干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The effect of schistostatin-10 (Scg-AST 10), a member of the allatostatin family of neuropeptides, an protein phosphorylation in the corpora allata (CA) of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria has been investigated. Treatment of S. gregaria CA with 10(-5) M of Scg-AST 10 resulted in attenuated phosphorylation of a 81.6 kDa protein. The effect was only observed in 10 day adult locusts. Although the schistostatins do not produce any detectable inhibition of JH biosynthesis in vitro, this result indicates that at least one of these peptides nevertheless elicits a biochemical response, which might be part of a Scg-AST-10-induced signal transduction pathway in the CA. Whether this pathway is involved in regulation of JH biosynthesis or leads to another kind of effect remains to be determined. This is the first demonstration of an induction of selective changes in the degree of protein phosphorylation by an insect allatostatin-like neuropeptide.